Indian Muslim Village Bans Women Using Cell Phones In Public

Muslim elders in an Indian village have banned women from using mobile phones in public because they might use the phones to speak with men. Any woman found using a cell phone faces a fine of $325, a huge amount for most villagers.

The order was issued by the council of elders called the Khap panchayats. The village, Madora, is largely Muslim and located in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The order clearly violates Indian law and is being investigated.

One publication quotes the head of the council, Gaffar Khan, 45, as saying “The girls in our village are not much educated. We fear they might be led to a ‘wrong path’ and so to prevent it, restrictions are being imposed on girls to not use mobile phones in public or while walking through the village lanes.”

Of course, the men are clearly well educated and can use cell phones at any time. If intelligence is the measure, Gaffar Khan would be barred from even oral communications. Hopefully, the elders will face charges for violating Indian law and get the news over their cellphones with the question “Can you hear me now? It is the present day calling.”

Wait a second. How do we know the men aren’t using cell phones in public to speak to poor, weak willed, ignorant women, leading them astray? Men should be banned from using cell phones, too. Or buying paper or pencils or carrier pigeons, because they might talk to a woman.

Islam, as it is practiced in majority regions, tends to have a neurotic fixation on controlling women, ensuring they are “perfectly” behaved and putting the entire burden of the family’s honor squarely on their shoulders. What are they wearing, saying, thinking? Who are they talking to? Are they wearing nail polish?

This is the problem with inequality in a society. If one gender (or class) has absolute control over another, there is no hope that every single individual will remain a benign dictator. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely. In every case where women are viewed as second class citizens, they are abused, controlled, and miserable.

I really don’t know how long they can keep this puritanism up. It’s exhausting.

I take all precautions to keep my conversations private. But, if you’re trying to call attention to those inconsiderate a$$hats who should just have the damn thing surgically implanted in their temples, I sympathize.

“The girls in our village are not much educated. We fear they might be led to a ‘wrong path’ and so to prevent it, restrictions are being imposed on girls to not use mobile phones in public or while walking through the village lanes.”

dss,
Are you trying to rack up your number of postings or are you going to explain why you considered my comment a non sequitur?

I’ll be more precise relative to the actual quote: “BETTER EDUCATE THE GIRLS!?

Cultural standards prevent grotesque behavior in some cultures and not in others. For example US culture is the only developed country that engages in grotesque capital punishment and withholds medical care from the working poor. It would be good if cultures would study other cultures and toss out the traditions that other cultures have found unacceptable.

US culture is the only developed country that engages in grotesque capital punishment

Japan, China, Singapore and the affluent Arab states have capital punishment. People here (and in the Far East) are not so silly or demoralized that they fancy that punishment should be replaced with social work. That’s a Swedish affectation.

I’m sure they will figure it out:
Islam’s Hadith-
Ishaq 969 – “Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are prisoners with you having no control of their persons.” – This same text also says that wives may be beaten for “unseemliness”.

Tabari Vol 9, Number 1754 – “Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves.” From Muhammad’s ‘Farewell Sermon’.

“Hopefully, the elders will face charges for violating Indian law…”
~+~
Wouldn’t it be nice if such a standard was held to politicians here? If they blatantly violate the Constitution and our Civil Rights the pols would face charges?

I suppose that men speaking with other men, utilizing cellphones and, simultaneously, arranging sexual encounters among themselves, is preferable to women speaking with men and arranging forbidden encounters with those of the opposite sex.